This thread is only tangentially baseball related, so mods can move it, if necessary. . .

So D-Woman (aka, my wife) and I were in Cleveland for a wedding this weekend. It was snowing like crazy in CLE this weekend--so much snow that they had to postpone all three home games. It may be that lake effect, but the foot of snow in downtown CLE had me in awe.

After my wife and I landed at Starbucks in the Warehouse District to get a coffee Saturday morning, I propped my camera phone out the window to take a picture of the onslaught of snow on downtown Cleveland. And as I examined the photo, I noticed that guy to the left of the photo looked an awful lot like Ichiro. After 10-minutes of gawking at this poor man, I realized it *must be* Ichiro. I examined the newspaper and realized the Mariners were in town. The games were snowed out. I was sitting in a Starbucks--so there's an obvious Seattle connection. And he was conversing with a Westerner in a foreign language--an obvious translator.

I think it's safe to assume I shared space with Ichiro in a Starbucks in Cleveland for 10 minutes. Here are my thoughts about Ichiro (or the dude that looked really really similar to Ichiro):

*I'm actually surprised he still has a translator. He's been over here for six years now. If Bobby Valentine can learn Japanese, then Ichiro should be able to learn enough English to order a latte. Maybe he can get away with speaking Japanese in Seattle.

*He isn't that small, and there is no way that he is 5'9". He must be taller than that, because I am 6'2" and he was nearly at my eye level. My guess is that he is closer to 5'11".

*I am always confused and deceived when I see ballplayers without baseball hats. We are patterned to recognize players with hats on, so when I see a guy like Tom Glavine without a hat to hide his enormous forehead, it throws off my sense of recognition. Same thing for Fred Durst (lead singer of Limp Bizkit). And Ichiro's forehead could definitely compete with Glavine's or Brain's noggin (from "Pinky and the Brain" fame). Consider me impressed.

*Perhaps the reason Ichiro's body looks so small on TV is that his head is huge, relative to his body size. If he had been born without any baseball talent, he could have been a news anchor instead. Or a bad TV actor, like Jim Belushi.

*My wife is into haberdashery, and she LOVED his style. He wore a navy pea coat with white tie loops, which my wife wanted to purchase for herself. He wore a bright, orange scarf. He wore mittens that only covered half of his fingers, which I noticed when he sipped on his coffee. He wore a white belt to match his all-white Stan Smiths. He wore baggy Levi's. . . Tres chic.

*I've read about how the desirable characteristics of East Asian men are changing nowadays. Japanese women are going ga-ga over sensitive Korean men, not old-school domineering Japanese ones. This trend must be carrying over to men's fashion, as Ichiro's apparel choices were almost effeminate IMO. Perhaps its an East Asian/Western fashion difference, although it was certainly more than your everyday metrosexual look. In case you are interested, Ichiro shops at Saks Fifth Avenue. D-Woman overheard it.

In the end, we chose not to disturb him, ask for an autograph, mug for photo op, etc.

jojo

04-09-2007, 10:20 PM

I'm actually surprised he still has a translator. He's been over here for six years now. If Bobby Valentine can learn Japanese, then Ichiro should be able to learn enough English to order a latte. Maybe he can get away with speaking Japanese in Seattle.

He doesn't. That's his way of managing the press without being perceived as a jackass (which he's not). he actually gives honest, thoughful and nuanced answers to questions but often the press prefers the *easy sell* angle. This way he doesn't get burned.

vaticanplum

04-09-2007, 11:09 PM

*My wife is into haberdashery, and she LOVED his style. He wore a navy pea coat with white tie loops, which my wife wanted to purchase for herself. He wore a bright, orange scarf. He wore mittens that only covered half of his fingers, which I noticed when he sipped on his coffee. He wore a white belt to match his all-white Stan Smiths. He wore baggy Levi's. . . Tres chic.

Oh my.

Redhook

04-10-2007, 12:09 AM

*I am always confused and deceived when I see ballplayers without baseball hats. We are patterned to recognize players with hats on, so when I see a guy like Tom Glavine without a hat to hide his enormous forehead, it throws off my sense of recognition. Same thing for Fred Durst (lead singer of Limp Bizkit). And Ichiro's forehead could definitely compete with Glavine's or Brain's noggin (from "Pinky and the Brain" fame). Consider me impressed.

*Perhaps the reason Ichiro's body looks so small on TV is that his head is huge, relative to his body size. If he had been born without any baseball talent, he could have been a news anchor instead. Or a bad TV actor, like Jim Belushi.

:laugh:

I don't know about everyone else, but these two paragraphs had me rollin'.

WebScorpion

04-13-2007, 10:50 AM

Thank you for that journey into the mind of D-man. All I can say is, "I thought I was weird...! :laugh: Just kiddin' ;)